Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 96,000 Antero Midstream Corporation $AM

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Antero Midstream during the first quarter, purchasing 96,000 shares worth about $2.19 million.
• Institutional interest in the pipeline company remains high, with 53.97% of shares held by institutional investors and hedge funds after several other funds increased or initiated positions.
• Antero Midstream reported quarterly EPS of $0.25, slightly below estimates, while analysts currently have a Hold consensus and a $24.00 target price; the stock was last trading at $22.79.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Antero Midstream Corporation (NYSE:AM - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 96,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $2,189,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Antero Midstream by 21.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,081,943 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $59,913,000 after purchasing an additional 535,245 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its position in Antero Midstream by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 1,978,405 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $35,196,000 after buying an additional 47,817 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Antero Midstream in the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,642,000. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Antero Midstream by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 1,409,183 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $25,069,000 after buying an additional 147,250 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its stake in Antero Midstream by 588.9% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 115,977 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,063,000 after buying an additional 99,141 shares during the period. 53.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AM shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Antero Midstream from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $26.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Antero Midstream from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Antero Midstream from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Antero Midstream from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Antero Midstream currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $24.00.

Antero Midstream Trading Down 1.7%

Antero Midstream stock opened at $22.79 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. The stock has a market cap of $10.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.50 and a beta of 0.66. Antero Midstream Corporation has a 12 month low of $16.77 and a 12 month high of $23.83.

Antero Midstream (NYSE:AM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.01). Antero Midstream had a net margin of 33.90% and a return on equity of 20.38%. The business had revenue of $314.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $311.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Antero Midstream Corporation will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

Antero Midstream Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 29th were issued a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 29th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Antero Midstream's dividend payout ratio is currently 104.65%.

Insider Transactions at Antero Midstream

In related news, insider Yvette K. Schultz sold 69,269 shares of Antero Midstream stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.90, for a total value of $1,516,991.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 580,565 shares in the company, valued at $12,714,373.50. This trade represents a 10.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael N. Kennedy sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.92, for a total transaction of $2,192,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,500,594 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,893,020.48. The trade was a 6.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Antero Midstream Profile

Antero Midstream Corporation is a publicly traded midstream service provider that was established in 2014 as a spin-off from Antero Resources. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, the company owns, operates and develops midstream infrastructure to support the gathering, compression, processing, transportation and storage of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and crude oil. Antero Midstream plays a critical role in connecting upstream production in the Appalachian Basin to end-market pipelines and processing facilities.

The company's core operations include a network of gathering pipelines and compression stations that serve the Marcellus and Utica shale formations across West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

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